Recently, the Ethereum Layer 2 network Blast announced its shutdown, citing unsustainable operating costs. Once boasting billions of dollars in deposits and capturing significant market attention, Blast ultimately failed to sustain a deficit structure where operating expenses exceeded fee revenue, leading to the decision to gradually discontinue its services. Users must withdraw their assets to the Ethereum mainnet by October 26, and approximately $51 million worth of assets currently remain on the network.

This event is seen less as the failure of a single project and more as the starting signal for a full-scale restructuring of the L2 ecosystem that had been growing indiscriminately. Retail-focused L2s, which poured massive resources into marketing and incentives to attract capital and users, are now facing a real test of their profitability. It remains to be seen whether these idle funds will safely return to the Ethereum mainnet, or if they will shift toward surviving large-scale L2s or high-performance L1 chains, creating a new redistribution of capital.

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